R-Jeneration: Teens tapping Tumblr for entertainment, news, expression

When Southeast Career Technical Academy sophomore Jennifer Jarquin arrives home from school, she grabs an afternoon snack and heads straight to her computer to sign onto Tumblr, an online blog-based community in which users can share their interests among their fellow Tumblr "followers."

The Tumblr site takes Twitter's instantaneous status streaming and Facebook's all-access pass into the lives of friends to create a new social media outlet. Jarquin finds the site to be "an escape from the people you personally know."

"Tumblr lets me express myself," Jarquin says. "It sounds cliche, but it's true. I can be sarcastic there and people will understand. I can post pictures and get complimented. I can be myself and not get a bunch of problems from people I know."

From a Tumblr blogger's perspective, love thy followers.

"I feel like everyone loves each other," Green Valley High School junior Kati Velazquez says. "It's like one big happy family. There are people that you don't know who will comment on one of your posts and then you ask yourself, 'Why am I not friends with this person in real life?' They care about your problems."

Though the site was launched in February 2007 by founder David Karp, Green Valley sophomore Denzel Mendoza discovered Tumblr recently thanks to a friend.

"Once you create a Tumblr, you are instantly introduced to new music, new artists, new works of art and new pieces of literature," Mendoza says. "The only con of Tumblr is the addiction. Everything of the Tumblr world is so awesome that it will be a problem to escape the window of glory called Tumblr."

Velazquez says the site serves its purpose by allowing people to express their opinions without experiencing the social repercussions that one would normally receive on other networking sites.

"It's like a diary," Velazquez says. "You put your guts and your life on Tumblr and it's just not allowed (for Facebook and Tumblr to merge). I get annoyed when people post their lives on Facebook, but when it's on Tumblr, I'm like 'Oh, you poor person, I'm so sorry!' "

According to Velazquez and Mendoza, teens also are using Tumblr as a medium for world news awareness. With the website's ability to "reblog," which enables a user to repost another's blog entry, posts are easily spread throughout the community.

"Tumblr, a friendly place, also is an aware place," Mendoza says. "I first heard of the outbreak in Libya through Tumblr and others concerning world news. Again, with its ability to reblog posts, the word of news spreads fast."

Tumblr's search engine is not based on personal names, but on names of specific blogs. Velazquez says she feels comfortable to blog and express her thoughts on Tumblr, rather than on websites such as Facebook, because there is a sense of anonymity on the site.

"Since everyone has a Facebook, it's lost that anonymous feel that Tumblr has; that diary feel," Velazquez says. "I don't know these people, I've never met these people. I'm more comfortable spilling my guts out to a stranger than to someone I actually know who will judge me. Sometimes it's nice to tell a stranger, knowing you'll never meet them in person."

Green Valley junior Alex Crupi says that it is this element that makes it easy to find people with the same interests.

"It's a good thing creatively and for strangers sharing the same likes and views to connect, but I just hope it doesn't get too big so that everyone is on Tumblr and it loses that anonymous feel," Crupi says.

Coronado High School sophomore Miranda Wisniewski, however, sees a downside.

"When it comes to (anonymous questioners), they're basically granted the freedom to hate-mail anyone that has a Tumblr," Wisniewski says. "Even I have had the misfortune of receiving messages like that."

Crupi points to addiction.

"When you start reading things on Tumblr, it's a long chain of obsession," Crupi says. "Hence the name Tumblr; you fall from one topic to another, and it's one chain. I know of people who go onto Tumblr and you're not able to talk to them for long periods of time because they're stuck in a Tumblr vortex."

Mendoza says Tumblr should not be taken lightly and should be treated with respect.

"If you create a Tumblr, you better respect the rules of Tumblr, regardless of age," Mendoza says. "No matter what age you are, feel free to create a Tumblr, but please respect it or the whole entire Tumblr society will troll you so hard, you are forced to resign over to MySpace. No joke, we're tough."